benjamin



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1. W. T. BENJAMIN.

COVER FOR SHOE UPPER LININGS.

No. 538,228.. Patented Apr. 30 1895 WITNESSES:

ATTOR N EYJ.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2. W. T. BENJAMIN. GOVER'FOR SHOE UPPER LININGS.

No. 538,228. Patented Apr. 30, 1895.

WITNESSES: I T INVENTOR m ifl'fa w,

BY whmz miwmi ATTORNEYJ.

THE nonms nuzns co. FNOID-UTHQ. wasnlnufou. o. c.

F (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

W. T. BENJAM COVER FOR SHOE UPPER IN ms.

No. 538,228. Patented Apr. 30, 1895.

WITNESSES: I'NVENTOR ATTORNEYJ.

STATES PATENT WILLIAM T. BENJAMIN, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO THE JAMES A. BANISTER COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

COVER- FOR SHOE-UPP ER LININGS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 538,228, dated April 30, 1895.

Application filed November 23, 1894- derial No. 529,743. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM T. BENJAMIN, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Newark, New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Covers for Shoe-Upper Linings, of which the following is a specification.

In the manufacture of shoes the articles pass through the hands of many persons with whom it is a practical impossibility, under the conditions of their employment, to keep their fingers sufficiently clean to avoid soiling 0r blackening any light colored part of their work. \Vhite or light colored canvas or leather linings for the inner surface of the tops are principally employed, while many goods are manufactured with their uppers of tan colored or undressed leather. The soiling of such linings or uppers makes the goods unmerchantable or decreases their value. Protecting covers have been employed inclosing the top edges of the uppers so that the shoe might be handled by grasping such covered part alone, but it has been a matter of much difficultyto keep the covers in place. External fastening devices such as metallic clips employed for thispurpose are frequently dropped and lost in the sweepings, so that their renewal by purchase .is a considerable item of expense.

It is the object of my invention to provide an upper covering and protector of such cut that it will, when applied, conform to theupper and render the handling of the shoe more convenient, and will fully protect the otherwise exposed part of the lining; and, furthermore, may be securely held within the shoe Without external fastening devices of any kind.

With such object in view my invention consists in an upper cover or protector partly divided at its middle to enable the inner portion to conform to the shape of the shoe. It further consists of an upper cover or protector having a part or parts adapted to extend down within the shoe to a point or points where it is grasped between the last and lower part of the upper, or where it may be lasted into the shoe or'tacked to the sole.

In order to make my invention more clearly 'a shoe.

understood I have shown in the accompanying drawings means for carrying it into practical effect, without limiting my improvements,in their useful applications, to the ,particular construction which, for the sake of illustration, I have delineated.

In said drawings:Figure 1 is a plan view of a cover embodying my invention, unfolded and in blank form. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the cover, with the portion which lies outside the shoe folded down upon the inner portions. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the cover in the form which it takes when applied to a shoe. Fig. 4 is a side view of a shoe having the cover secured in place by lasting in the lower extremities of its inner portions. Fig. 5 is a sectional view on line V-V, Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a similar view with the said extremities secured between the upper and last. Fig. 7 is asimilar view with the said extremi- 7o ties secured to the sole. Referring to the drawings, 1 is a cover or protector of any suitable material, preferably stiff paper, and composed of two portions, one portion, 2, to form the cover for the outside of the upper end of the top and the other, 3, to extend down within the shoe and protect the lining thereof. The part 3 is divided by a central vertical cut 4 into tongues 5, theinner edges or flaps 6 of which may thus lap one over the other when the cover is bent into shape, asshown in Fig. 5, for application to At the top of the cut 4 is a transverse slit 7 to accommodate the heel strap 8 of the shoe. The slit 7 has sufficient width for this purpose, and its edges are given pliability by short diagonal cuts 12 at the corners of the slit. The edges or flaps 6 are rounded at their upper corners, at 9, so that the cover may not be caught at this point and torn or displaced and the corners 10 of the outer part 2 are similarly shaped. The lower ends of -the tongues 5 are made tapering so as to reduce the amount of material to be lasted in between the upper and sole. The fold between the part 2 and 5 the tongues 5 is made on the lines 11. While such fold may be made on a straight line coincident with the slit 7, the cover may in some cases fit more accurately and tend better to retain its place if each tongue is folded inde- LOO pendently of the other on a line slightly inclined to the transverse, as indicated in Fig. 2. This gives the folded edge of the cover 1 a slight forward and upward inclination, as seen in Fig. 4, to correspond with the top edge of the upper when its two halves are folded together.

The cover is preferably cut to the shape indicated in Fig. 1, by a suitable die, and the tongues folded on the line or lines 11. The parts of the top having been lined and stitched together at their rear edges, the cover 1 may be applied with the part 2 around the outer upper portion of the top, the back or pull strap projecting through the slit 7, and the tongues 5 lying along the inner surface of the lining. Thereafter the upper may be handled by its covered part without danger of it or its lining becoming soiled. In some of the operations of bottoming the linings are liable to be pinched and broken by getting in the jack used to hold the shoe, as in lasting, trimming, &c., but by extending the cover down within the upper to the bottom thereof it will protect or prevent the upper or lining from settling in so as to be caught by the jack. The cover may not be applied until all the parts of the upper have been united and ready for lasting, but it is desirable to apply the cover at as early a stage as possible in the manufacture.

The preferred manner of securing the cover 1 in place is by lasting the lower extremities 13 of the tongues 5 into the shoe, between the upper and the sole, as seen in Figs. 4 and 5. Said tongues may be so held by being clamped between the upper and the last as seen in Fig. (i, and this mode will answer so long as the last is not removed; or the tongues 5 maybe tacked to the sole as shown in Fig. 7. After the lasting process the shoe passes through upward of twenty-five different operations and as many handlings by various operatives,

but throughout it may be held by the cover 1 and protected from soiling.

When the shoe is finished the cover is readily torn out, leaving the tips 13 beneath the inner sole.

I do not claim broadly a folded cover for shoe uppers having portions without the uppar and within the upper end of the upper, as I am aware that such covers have been heretofore employed.

I claim 1. A cover for shoe uppers folded to form inner and outer portions, the inner portion extending down within the shoe to or near the sole, combined with securing means within the shoe engaging said inner portion at or near the sole substantially as set forth.

2. A cover forshoe uppers folded on the line 11 to form inner and outer portions, the inner portion being divided to form tongues as described, whereby they may separate from or overlap each other according to the shape of the upper substantially as set forth.

3. A cover for shoe uppers folded to form inner and outer portions, the former extending down to the sole and securing means entirely within the shoe engaging said inner portion, at the sole substantially as set forth.

4. A cover for shoe uppers folded to form inner and outer portions, the inner portion extending down to the sole and being lasted into the shoe, substantially as set forth.

5. Acover for shoe uppers having outer and inner portions folded on the line or lines 11, the inner portion being divided to form tongues 5, and having the slit 7 on said line or lines, substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

W. T. BENJAMIN.

lVitnesses:

WM. HASELMAYER, J. W. DENNY. 

